Topics - GamerAyers

I want to start using VideoLan on my installation. I have gone in and set the media director to use VideoLan and turned off Xine. When I do this, and reload the router, an error always comes up that all devices have not started properly. It is one of the videolan clients. Currently, the only thing I have is a hybrid server, but I have tired it before with a hybrid server and one media director with similar results. Do I need to enable something else? Does videolan not work with 710?

Since I use my Linuxmce server as my main router, I would like to ability to not only add a wireless card for wireless router support along with the wired network, but also have VPN access. OpenVPN allows for easy SSL access for a VPN. Any chance this can be incorporated without much difficulty. Thanks.

I have the HVR-1600 and I know the support is not done for it yet. Here is the link for the drivers:http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Cx18. I installed them as they said, but I can't get LinuxMCE or MythTV to see that there is any inputs. I even set the media director to have an IVTV tuner since that is what it says it uses. They said that there is Digital support for the tuner already, but it is still Alpha. Anybody have any idea how to get it to initialize? Thank you.

I hate setting the sorting each and every time I start the system. I want to be able to say all my videos, sort by folder, and all my music, do it by album....I haven't fiddled with any of the other medias, but that is what I use in Windows XP MCE, and if I could do that in LinuxMCE, I'd ditch windows once and for all.

So I am trying to figure out what is the best solution. I installed Myth every other time, but with Beta4, I installed VDR. And if I want to switch back to myth, do I have to reinstall can I perform an installation keeping current system values or do I have to wipe out everything?

I have a server, and currently 1 media director, will have at least 2 soon. I am getting satellite TV (so I guess I am not really trying to use it as a DVR although it would be nice to have the option. I currently have 4 tv cards sitting around not in use, HVR-1600, PVR-250, PVR-500 and an old AIW-9000 but ATI. Knowing that I am getting satellite having the cards is pretty much useless, except the HVR, which is useless due to the fact that it can't be used otherwise I would love it. I plan to get happauges new card for component in, but until then will use the PVR connected to one of the satellite receivers and that is it.

So I spent a while trying to figure out how to do this, and once I did, I was disappoint.

So lets start by saying, once you know how to do this, it is really easy. Let's start by saying I am working on my server as a test before I finish my house. I have a 2.2ghz opteron proc with a biostart mobo as the server. Running 1.5g of ram. It is running a gigabit networking card and has a 16 port smc gigabit switch. My media director is a amd athlon xp 2000+, on an abit at7 max2 board with 756mb ram and no hdd. With ease i got it setup, but the remote (a xp-mce remote) needed a little work to get up and running.

Now, I started to play a cd on my media director and wanted to test it so both played it because eventually I want to be able to have 3-5 rooms playing the same item. It is an mp3 rip of the cd at 128kbps. When I set it so my server was playing the file also, it immediately jumped 1.5mins into the track. I felt, wow, kinda odd. So I selected another track, which did not start at the beginning, but instead started 2 mins into the track. Same if I started a new cd and did it again. Now, if you try to switch cds while in multiple room configuration, it overrides it until you stop the music and start something new. At which point you have to resync the media directors.

So on to the next problem with this. The media directors can be anywhere from 2 seconds apart to about 30 seconds apart in the same song. If you are throwing a party, this wouldn't really work. Unfortionately, this was one of the main reasons for my wanting Linuxmce. Have a media director in the basement, one in the living room, and one outside and have the server control the hallways and have them all playing the same music. Doesn't seem like it will work. Any ideas, or is this out of the realm of LinuxMCE.

So I have all my music on a windows xp mce. It is all setup with ID3 tags, and album art. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to transfer files back and forth between Windows and LinuxMCE. I put the files in the public/audio and one cd sometimes turns into 15, all with the same name, with one track in each of them. When I finally go through and combine them all, sometimes it sticks, and sometimes when I restart all the other CDs appear again. Plus, understandable that the album art is different, no album art shows up. I am a true audiophile and listen to all types of music. Between me and my girlfriend we have upwards of 700 CDs on Windows XP mce so to transfer each over seems to be one heck of a project. Is there a simple thing I am missing or it is just a pain in the butt to do this? Thanks.

So I have been working with LinuxMCE for about 8 months now. I started with PlutoHome and found that it was just not easy enough to setup. I have gone from an old Athlon XP to an Opteron 64. I have tried to setup the media center as a wired/wireless router, and many other things, but being that I am not that familiar with Linux, I seem to fail in my attempts. I learn a lot each time, but each time I seem farther back. At the moment, my biggest problems are network based and tv-tuner based. I have an nforce board and the network just seems flaky. I have an HVR-1600, and it is a waste with Linux. I have a PVR-150 and 500 which I will put in soon, but the lack of HD is upsetting. I am soon getting a house, and I have been preparing the system for installation in the house.

Now for the praise, I like what LinuxMCE allows you to do, supposedly, and how it's interface is. I think that there is a lot of good stuff going on.

That all being said, the first complaint I have is in a community, I have posted many times, and have only received a response to maybe one of them. It was barely a help as I still needed to do my own research and I haven't even tried it as I don't want to waste time. (using a USB cable modem as the internet Ethernet adapter and then having just a regular Ethernet for the lan side). I find the people on the forum will look and look and look at posts all day, but nobody seems to reply. I'd bump, but it seems like a waste.

This leads me to my second complain, which is Linux to some extent. Yes, yes, it is open source, and without DRMs and so on. That being said, most things are barely supported. Take the HVR, you can only use it for analog, and that is even a hack. Yes this is a manufacturer's responsibility, but LinuxMCE can be a far superior product than XP MCE or Vista MCE as it includes so much. At this point, the manufacturer's need to know that there are people who want drivers, and if need be have an endorsement area of LinuxMCE which includes a manufacturer's logo saying they approved it.

Nobody is saying what has been done was easy, so get some corporate support. PLEASE.

This leads me to my last complaint. I know there is a lot of garbling back and forth about satellite TV and being able to record HD. Now hear me out. I don't care if things are DRM or not, I keep them for myself and watch them on my PC/tvs. I want to watch something I recorded on any tv in my house. Vista has DRM built in and DirectTV is making a card specifically for Vista computers to record tv. I hate Vista, I would use it if it were Windows Server or XP MCE. If somebody with LinuxMCE was to work directly with Dish Network/Freestar, which uses Linux for their new 722 receivers, I think that a deal could be worked out for a recording card for LinuxMCE. That being said, most likely the drive it recorded to would have to encrypted (so freakin what) but if you presented this and even teamed up with them for a select area they could have you doing installs of these systems in people's house and they would look like an amazing company. Which means we get what we want, and they get huge profits (what they want).

Now that I ranted, I expect that nobody is going to reply, maybe they will read it, and it will just work its way down the list.

I've been trying to rip in MP3 format on Beta3. It appears to have it, but every time I try it gets an error ripping. Is there something else I need to do? Also, why does Linux seem to rip so slow compared with Windows?

I have not changed my skin and I keep getting orbiter failed to regenerate the skin on the hybrid. I had this before I ended up reinstalled the whole thing. It normally happens about a week or two after I have it installed.

The other question I had is, Is there any way to get the hybrid to show standard screen instead of V2 wide screen. Mine always seems to be locked on widescreen. Thanks for the help.

I have a friend who would like to do a VPN solution with me so we can share files and also play network only games. (non-internet) I know that Linux-mce has a VPN server inside of it, but I don't know if it can be used to have a router (say a cisco or sonicwall) to connect to it, or if even an XP computer can connect to it. If so, How would I set it up? Thanks.

I am looking to replace my entire network server, router, and media center with a Linuxmce box. I got the wired part working easily, but the wireless part is much harder for me. I also have some issues because I have a PS3 and it needs uPnP support by the router. This does not seem to be supported either. I have an Atheros chipset on the wireless card and it would be nice to have it supported. Thanks.